Half the world follows one of two religions:
Half the world speaks one of eight languages (as a first or second language) Half the world lives in one of six countries: |
– Abagond, 2007.
See also:
Wed Jul 11th 2007 by abagond
Half the world follows one of two religions:
Half the world speaks one of eight languages (as a first or second language) Half the world lives in one of six countries: |
– Abagond, 2007.
See also:
Posted in countries, languages | 6 Comments
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
WPThemes.
This was one of Abagond’s early “world trends” posts, so I wonder how these numbers could have changed since this post was written.
Could the proportions have changed around since the populations of Mexico and Nigeria — for instance — are growing fast.
LikeLike
I think Brazil might drop out of the top 6 in population soon.
I am still amazed at Java – 145 million people (60% of Indonesia’s population) in the area the size of England or Alabama. IT makes Japan and Bangladesh look spacious and unpopulated.
LikeLike
To Bulanik:
since the populations of Mexico and Nigeria — for instance — are growing fast…
I don’;t know about Nigeria but Mexico’s population growth has slowed dramatically in the past few decades.. in 1970 the Mexican birth rate was around 7 for each woman.. now it’s around 2.2 births per woman.. it is estimated the Mexican population will increase by only 2.5% in the next decade.
LikeLike
@ Jefe, I’m still wondering how the land of Java sustains that population!
@ Milton, I don’t know what to believe: I was listening to a talk by Jim O’Neil and he said something like following a dip during the first 5 years following the turn of the century (2000), the annual growth rate of the Mexican population had started to rise again.
I was also under the impression it wasn’t 7 births per woman in the 70s, but closer to 5 births per woman by the mid 70s.
LikeLike
@ Bulanik
If I update the post I will have to add French and Nigeria to get over 50%. The order of countries is so far unchanged.
By 2100 half the world will be in ten countries:
1. India: 1,547m
2. China: 1,086m
3. Nigeria: 914m
4. USA: 462m
5. Indonesia: 315m
6. Tanzania: 276m
7. Pakistan: 263m
8. D.R. Congo: 262m
9. Ethiopia: 243m
10. Uganda: 205m
That assumes 2010 borders.
By then the top ten languages will be (assuming just population growth, no rise or fall in the popularity of languages):
1. English (1989)
2. Arabic (866)
3. Mandarin Chinese (803)
4. Swahili (789)
5. Hindi/Urdu (704)
6. French (607)
7. Spanish (448)
8. Bengali (250)
9. Portuguese (281)
10. Hausa (278)
Chinese, Hindi/Urdu, Bengali, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese suffer as regional languages in regions with falling populations by the late 2000s. English and French, being more globally distributed, are less affected. Hausa and Swahili boom as Africa booms.
Christianity and Islam will still be the top two religions, in that order, but instead of making up 56% of the world, as they did in 2010, they will account for 67%. But that is based just on population growth, not conversions.
LikeLike
these figures and trends look like ideal data for an app or program that can track and self update.
ah if I only had the programing knowledge…..
LikeLike